The AstraZeneca laboratory has announced the resumption of its trials on a vaccine against Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. They had been interrupted following the appearance of an “unexplained” reaction in one of the patients. This resumption of trials relaunches AstraZaneca in the global race for the Covid-19 vaccine.
- UK authorities cleared Astra Zaneca
- British authorities have allowed Astra Zaneca to resume clinical trials that were interrupted three days earlier.
- One of the patients taking part in the phase III clinical trial had developed an ‘unexplained’ illness
- Astra Zaneca announces that its Covid-19 vaccine could be ready by the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021
Astra Zeneca can resume testing of a Covid-19 vaccine in the UK. The laboratory announced on Saturday September 12 that it had obtained the agreement of the country’s health authorities to continue clinical trials, after a three-day interruption. Last Wednesday, the pharmaceutical group had to stop the ongoing research. In question, the appearance of a “potentially unexplained illness” in one of the clinical trial participants. “We have voluntarily paused vaccinations to allow an evaluation of the safety data by an independent committee“, immediately justified a spokesperson for the company in a press release.
The independent committee has given the green light to the resumption of clinical trials
A clinical trial is a scientific study that aims to assess the efficacy and tolerance of a new treatment with volunteer participants. In the event of poor intermediate results, laboratories often choose to stop research. In the case of AstraZeneca, the side effect observed in the patient could have been serious and the principle of safety obliges the company to stop the research. An independent committee was therefore tasked with carrying out the investigation to assess the risks associated with the vaccine. This body quickly submitted its conclusions to the United Kingdom’s health regulatory authority for medicines, the Medicine and healthcare product regulatory agency (MHRA). As a result, the vaccine is deemed safe by the independent committee, which gives the green light to the resumption of tests. “Clinical trials of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine have resumed in the UK after MHRA confirmed it was safe“, said the group, which is working on this project with the University of Oxford.
A vaccine considered by the end of the year or the beginning of next year
The purpose of clinical trials is to test new drugs or new therapeutic methods in order to eventually request marketing authorization (AMM). No marketing is possible without validated clinical trials. Despite this three-day break, AstraZeneca is well and truly back in the race for the Covid-19 vaccine. Pascal Soriot, the group’s managing director, even foresees it “by the end of the year” or “the beginning of next year”, according to comments reported from an online conference held on Thursday. last. To develop this product, the pharmaceutical group is working in partnership with the British University of Oxford. Their clinical trials are in phase 3, the last before a marketing authorization application. Their research is among the most advanced in the West, already tested on thousands of volunteers in the United Kingdom, Brazil, South Africa and the United States. So advanced that the laboratory has already set a very competitive price, at 2.50 euros per dose.
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